HIV/AIDS is a ‘Foreign Policy Imperative,’ Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Says

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a "foreign policy imperative," Dr. Jack Chow, deputy assistant secretary of state for International Health and Science, said last week at the Confronting HIV/AIDS Conference in Waikiki, Hawaii, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports. Chow, who also serves as special representative for HIV/AIDS to the secretary of state, said the epidemic will "explode" across Russia, China, India and other areas if preventive measures are not taken now and noted that stemming the rising number of infections in China will be "essential" to preventing a "titanic explosion of the disease." Chow said the Bush administration is concerned about the rise in HIV cases both abroad and domestically and said that Hawaii, with its ethnic diversity and location on the Pacific Rim, can "play an important role" in stemming the epidemic in Asia. "It's not only the big populous nations we care about. It's these island nations, where because of demographics and increased trade ... the trajectory of AIDS could spike very rapidly," he said. Chow attended the conference in Hawaii on his way back to Washington from the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain. He also met with leaders in Thailand, Myanmar and China on his trip (Altonn, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7/21).